HB 3 — Craven Board of Education/Partisan Electoral Districts.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2021 H 21 HOUSE BILL 3 Committee Substitute Favorable 5/5/21 Short Title:

CravenVoter BdInitiative offor Ed/PartisanBeaufort ElectoralCounty. Districts.

Representative Kidwell.

For a complete list of sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly web site.

Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform, if favorable, Local Government, if favorable, Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House January 28, 2021 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO CHANGEPROVIDE THE METHODVOTERS OF ELECTIONBEAUFORT COUNTY A RIGHT TO PETITION FOR MEMBERSCHANGES TO THE STRUCTURE OF THE CRAVENBEAUFORT COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATIONCOMMISSIONERS. TO PARTISAN ELECTORAL DISTRICTS.

NotwithstandingPart the4 Plan for the Merger of CravenArticle County4 Board of EducationChapter and153A New Bern City Board of Education and to Create and Establish One Administrative Unit for Both of the PublicGeneral SchoolStatutes Unitsis inamended Cravenby County,adding asa filednew withsection theto Secretaryread: of State under former G.S.

115-74.1"§ on153A-60.1. May 17, 1979, and Chapter 236 of the 1983 Session Laws, and Chapter 67 of the 1995 Session Laws, beginning in 2022, the Craven County Board of Education, as renamed byChapter 851 of the 1991 Session Laws, shall consist of seven members who shall be nominated and elected on a partisan basis in each even-numbered year as terms expire.

CandidatesAlteration shallby bevoter nominatedinitiative. at the same time and manner as other county officers.

OneThe memberpeople shallmay beinitiate electeda fromreferendum eachon ofproposed thealterations sevenauthorized districts, as established by thethis CravenPart. County Board of Education in 2011.

TheAn initiative petition shall bear the signatures and resident addresses of a number of qualified voters of eachthe districtcountyequal shallto nominateat candidatesleast andten electpercent members(10%) of the Cravenwhole Countynumber of voters who are registered to vote in the countyaccordingto the most recent figures certified bythe State Board of EducationElections foror that3,000, district.whichever is less.

CandidatesmustresideinThe thedistrictforwhichtheyseektobeelected.Asthetermsofthepresentpetition membersshall, expire, beginning with thereference primaryand election to be held in 2022, and everytwo years thereafter, members of the Cravenpertinent Countyprovisions Board of EducationG.S. shall be elected for staggered four-year terms.

Except153A-58, ascontain otherwisethe providedprecise bytext thisof act,the electionsresolution shallnecessary beto conductedimplement in accordance with Chapter 163 of the Generalproposed Statutes.changes.

SECTIONThe 2.petition may not propose changes in the alternative, or more than one integrated set of alterations.

VacanciesUpon onreceipt of a valid initiative petition, the Cravencounty Countyboard Boardof elections shall call a special election on the question of Educationadopting the alterations proposed therein and shall begive filledpublic asnotice follows:of the special election in accordance with G.S.

(1)163-287. Vacancies for positions elected on a nonpartisan basis in 2018 or 2020 shall be filled in accordance with G.S.

115C-37(f).The date of the special election shall be the date of the next countywide election, whether primary, general, or special, held more than 90 days after receipt of the petition.

(2)If Beginninga majority of the firstvotes Mondaycast in Decemberthe ofspecial 2022,election vacanciesarein forfavoroftheproposedchanges, positionstheresolution electedis onadopted.Alterations aadoptedunder partisanthis basissection shall continue in 2022force andfor thereafterat shallleast betwo filledyears inafter accordancethe withbeginning G.S.of the term of office of the officers elected under the new manner of election.

115C-37.1.No initiative petition may be filed (i) within one year and six months following the effective date of a resolution adopting alterations pursuant to this Part, nor (ii) within one year and six months following the date of any election on alterations that were defeated by the voters.

The restrictions imposed by this section on filing initiative petitions shall apply only to petitions concerning the same subject matter.

Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the submission of more than one proposition for alterations on the same ballot so long as no proposition offers a different plan under the same option as another proposition on the same ballot." SECTION 2.

This act applies to Beaufort County only.

This act doesis noteffective affectwhen theit termsbecomes oflaw. office of any person elected in 2018 or 2020 to the Craven County Board of Education.

The*H3-v-1* members of the Craven County BoardofEducation elected in 2018 or2020,oranymemberappointed bytheremainingmembers of the Board to fill a vacancy of a member elected in 2018 or 2020, shall serve until a successor has been elected and qualified.

SECTION4.

Effectiveonthefirst Mondayin Decemberof2022, G.S.

115C-37.1(d) reads as rewritten:

"(d) This section shall apply only in the following counties:

Alleghany, Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Cherokee, Clay, Cleveland, Craven, Dare, Davie, Graham, Guilford, *H3-v-2* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2021 Harnett, Hyde, Iredell, Lee, Madison, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Rutherford, Stanly, Stokes, Surry, Vance, Washington, and Yancey." SECTION 5.

This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to elections held on or after that date.

Page 2 House Bill 3-Second Edition